Unbroken
by stephluvvsyou
Summary: JONAS. While the boys are away on tour for the summer, Stella meets the guy of her dreams. The abusive behavior, however, is a surprise. UNFINISHED.
1. Pleasure And Pain

**AN : First off, I'd like to say that I may be a bit rusty at the writing thing. It's been a while since I've had time to work on anything, so please forgive me if this seems a little off. Secondly - this is my first fanfiction for JONAS. I can't believe that the show doesn't have a section in tv shows? But either way, I noticed that these get published under misc. so here it is. **

**I hope everyone can enjoy the story. I've been reading some other fanfictions and got inspired to start writing one. It will be multi-chaptered. I'm not sure exactly how long yet, and I still haven't decided on any ships. I am pro Joe/Stella, but I'm very partial to Nick/Stella also - and can't decide if I'd rather see Macy with Kevin, Nick, or Joe. So for now, it'll stick to intense friendships, though there will be hints of feelings and flirting between characters at times. **

**But without furthur ado, I give you chapter one of Unbroken. **

_Disclaimer : I do not own the show JONAS or any of the characters associated._

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Unbroken

Part One : Pleasure and Pain

Before Stella knew it, a stinging sensation burned her face, and she felt her jaw bone crack as the impact of her boyfriend's punch, sent her spiraling and onto the floor.

Her body landed on the hard wood, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

She was used to this by now. Her college boyfriend of almost 3 months now, had reared his ugly head at her only 3 weeks into their relationship. When they'd met at the mall, it was instant attraction. They exchanged phone numbers. 4 days later, he called her for a date. 6 days after that, they'd officially declared they were a couple. A week later he promised her the world, and she'd fallen in love. 3 weeks in and she received her first beating. 2 days after that he'd taken her virginity from her. It was summer break, thank goodness. The boys were away for tour, another thank goodness. Hiding bruises from her mother, and from Macy was one thing. But hiding them from the boys would be near impossible. They could pick up anything from her. They could sense when something was wrong. Nearly a month ago, she'd talked to Joe on the phone. Even then he sensed something off in her voice. Afterwards she'd gotten the third degree for talking to another boy, and her phone was shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. She had gone to see Macy the next day, hysterical and sleep deprived, but she blamed it on monthly girl time cycle. And the phone she'd just 'misplaced'.

Macy had in fact questioned a couple of bruises spotted on her arms, but Stella was able to offer up excuses quickly. Afterall, she'd never lied to Macy before. She had every reason to trust her. For the first couple weeks after the beatings had started, Stella had been an emotional trainwreck. Crying at the smallest things. Something as simple as her mother telling her she loved her before leaving for work would cause her to cry. A sad movie, a sad song, even looking at the photograph on the wall of her, Macy, and the boys. Because she wished they were there. She wished they'd come home and somehow save her from what she'd gotten herself into. But she knew that no one could save her. She couldn't save herself, how could anyone else?

But there was one thing she could do. She could learn to handle the pain. She wasn't going to live her life crying every day. She wasn't going to live it, hoping for a savior. She wanted her life to still feel somewhat real, and the only way to do that was to let what was happening to her, toughen her up. Though she was tired and fearful, she had become strong. She could take a beating. And then some.

She felt a pair of strong, fierce hands grab her underneath her arms, and yank her off the floor. A moment later, she was hitting the wall at an alarming rate. She couldn't even remember at this point why he was mad at her. She'd come over like he'd requested of her yesterday. Because her phone was no longer around, he'd usually tell her if he expected to see her the next day. And if not the next day, he'd definitely tell her when to show up again. And she honored that. She'd always shown up. She was here, as he asked, but he was so furious with her, and she couldn't remember why. Probably because he was knocking her senseless.

She felt his hand grab the back of her head by the hair, and she was yanked backwards. She didn't make a sound, though she wanted to scream. She leaned on him for support. If she didn't, she was going to fall onto the ground again, though she figured she'd be there shortly anyway.

"I cannot believe the nerve of you."

His voice was cold, and unnerving. She trembled slightly, afraid to ask him what she'd done.

"I told you I never wanted to see you wearing that necklace again."

He threw her on the floor, and placed his shoe on the back of her head, grinding her already fractured jaw into the cold, hard wood angrily.

Ohhhh. Shit. The necklace.

"Are you seeing him behind my back?" he snapped furiously, pressing onto her head harshly, "Because you always have to fucking mention his name too."

He was talking about her friendship necklace that Joe had given her a couple of years ago before they'd started high school. They'd made a vow, that no matter how big his world became, no matter how many new people there would be in high school, no matter how many new friends they'd made, that they'd always be together. They'd always be there for each other. Through thick and thin. For better or for worse. And she'd forgotten that she wasn't supposed to wear that necklace to her boyfriend's house. Guess, it was still habit to put it on every morning. And to only take it off when she was sleeping. She didn't even do that sometimes.

But it was her fault. She'd told her boyfriend she wouldn't wear it here anymore, and she had anyway. What was she thinking?

"I'm sorry." Stella managed to say, though her words were muffled by the floor, and her voice was distorted from her throbbing jaw.

"You're sorry." Her boyfriend repeated sarcastically.

She felt the pressure of his shoe lift off of her head, but she remained as she was, unable to muster any strength to get up. She sighed deeply. She actually wished she could go back to this morning, wake up, and do this day all over again. Then maybe she'd have remembered not to wear the necklace. She had just been so excited to get here, and see him.

"Get your sorry ass up off the floor and prove to me that you're fucking sorry!" he screamed at her.

Well. That was motivation enough.

She slowly pressed her hands to the floor, and pushed herself onto her knees. After standing up weakly, she turned to face him. A staredown ensued, but she always lost them. She was unable to gaze into his piercing eyes for very long. She knew there were two things she was going to have to do to gain his forgiveness today. One of them was going to leave her with no strength at all. The other was going to break her heart apart.

She slowly reached her hands up behind her neck, and unfastened the necklace. She glanced at it for a moment. The small charm hanging from the chain that read 'Joe' glistened slightly from the light of the window. She glanced up at her boyfriend, before extending her hand towards him. "Here."

He folded his arms over his chest. "You think giving me that necklace is going to fix the fact that I had to deal with seeing you wear it again?" he started raising his voice again, "You think I enjoy seeing you wear some other guy's name around your neck?!"

Stella stood quietly for a moment, ignoring the sting in her jaw, and in her head. "That's…why I want you to have it." She glanced at him again, "This necklace means a lot to me…but you're my everything. I can give up this necklace. But I can't lose you."

Her boyfriend's cold stare finally went away, and he walked over and took the necklace from her. He smiled, "You know I love you, right?"

Stella nodded. Of course she knew. She wouldn't feel so eager to stay by his side if she knew there was no love between them. The fight wouldn't be worth it. All the hardships and pain wouldn't be worth it, if there wasn't any love. But there was. She just couldn't stay away from him. She just couldn't imagine life without him. Yet…she was so scared she'd never escape him.

She was in it for the long haul with him. He'd made her strong enough to do it. It couldn't get any worse than this. And besides, what kind of relationship didn't have its ups and downs?

He threw his arm around her aching body, and steered her towards the bedroom. Time for the other task.

Several hours later, she was finally leaving.

"I have exams for the rest of the week." He said, as he walked her to the door, "But I'll be free all day Saturday and ready to see you again."

"Saturday?" Stella questioned, in a nearly panicked voice. How was she supposed to last until Saturday? It was four days away from now. She really had to go that long without seeing him?

"Well I was thinking about having lunch with you Friday. But it would only be lunch." He replied, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe.

Stella's eyes lit up slightly at the news. "That's okay. I would love to have lunch with you Friday."

"It's a date then." He answered, reaching out with his hand and taking her chin gently. His touch was so soft it even surprised Stella. It was out of character for him. They stood in silence for a moment, before he smiled at her, "You're so beautiful you know that?"

Stella smiled, "Thanks." Her voice still sounded all kinds of messed up, and she knew her jaw was swollen and puffy. But he'd still made her feel amazing. He still found her beautiful despite her current appearance. It meant the world to her. He meant the world to her. "I love you."

"Love you too." He said, releasing her chin. "See you Friday."

Before Stella could say anything else, he'd shut the door on her. She turned around, walking down his steps towards the sidewalk, a smile, or at least an attempt at one, playing on her lips. Her heart fluttered and she reached up under her neck and ended up grabbing air. Oh. She let her hand fall back down to her side. She forgot it was no longer there. But it was okay. It was her own fault anyway. If she'd remembered not to wear it, the beating wouldn't have happened, and she wouldn't have had to lose it. She'd deserved to lose it.

3 days without her boyfriend? What was she going to do until then? She didn't have to work on any new clothes for the boys yet. She could always hang out with Macy, but there was no way she'd be able to see her for the next couple days. Not unless she wanted to be asked a bunch of questions about why her jaw was so strange looking.

After sex, when she'd been able to go into the bathroom to inspect herself, she'd almost not been able to believe her eyes at the sight of her reflection. She knew mirrors exaggerated, but even without an exaggeration, her jaw looked awful. What was she going to tell her mom? Because there was no hiding her appearance when she walked through the door.

She couldn't understand for the life of her how she'd gotten herself into this. Part of her, somewhere deep down, knew her boyfriend's behavior was unacceptable. But at the same time, she knew that loving someone, meant loving their flaws as well as all the good things about them.

He was smart, he was so hot, and he was responsible. She knew that he could take care of her. And maybe that's what had her torn. While he got so carried away at times, he gave her such a sense of stability, and someone to do something with when the boys were on tour.

She could never forget about Macy, and they'd hung out together quite a bit at the beginning of the summer, but Macy was involved in her sports year round. She'd just gotten back from a volleyball summer camp that she'd been at for a week. She supposed she could call her and see if she wanted to come over. She'd figure out something to say about her jaw.

_She was walking across the street when a car had taken the turn a little too sharply. Stella gasped and ran from it as it blared a horn at her and the tires screeched. She had to nearly jump out of the way, and when she did, her foot caught the curb and it sent her spiraling to the ground._

Yeah, that sounded good.

She used her house key to get in when she arrived home, seeing as it was a Tuesday night, and her mom had dinner meetings on Tuesday nights. She'd need to call her though, if she wanted Macy to come over. But first, she needed to tend to her injury. She walked upstairs to her room, where there were different outfits splayed all over her bed and floor. It'd taken her forever to decide what to wear to her boyfriend's today. She decided to ignore the mess for now though, and walked into her bathroom. She grabbed a wash rag from her cabinet and wet it. After ringing it out, she touched the cool cloth to her jaw. She cringed in pain. She should probably actually really go to the hospital, but what could they do anyway? And it'd raise so much more suspicion for her mother and Macy to question her about.

She finished cleaning herself up, and grabbed an ice pack to hold on her jaw for a bit, hopefully it would cause it to swell down some, and picked up her home phone. She really hated not having her cell anymore. She dialed her mom, and it rang and rang and rang.

"Hello?" her mom answered from the other side. She'd been laughing. Sounded like she might have had one too many glasses of wine.

"Hey mom." Stella replied.

"Stella honey hello. Did you just get home? I was expecting to hear from you a lot sooner." her mom replied.

"Yeah I know, sorry, lost track of time." Stella replied, "But I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Can Macy come over tonight?" Stella asked quietly, crinkling the ice pack around in her hand.

"Of course she can, you know that Macy is always welcome at the house." her mom paused. "Is something wrong? You sound strange."

"I'm fine." Stella perked up, realizing she had sounded all too depressed when asking if Macy could come over, when normally she'd be ecstatic. "Just tired."

"I mean your voice honey. It sounds so muffled. Like you have a cold or something." Her mom replied.

Oh crap. The jaw. "Um, oh that's just…I uh." Stella sighed. "It's a long story mom, can we save that for later?"

"Okay well you girls have fun, I'll be home late." her mom finished hesitantly, before hanging up.

Stella sighed again. Well, her mom coming home late would buy some time there. Now, getting Macy convinced of the 'near car hitting' experience would be the main priority.

She'd buy it. She had to. She dialed Macy's number, and Macy picked up after the first ring.

"Stella!" she greeted excitedly, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too Mace." Stella replied with a smile. She really had missed her. "Do you want to come over tonight?"

"Oh I thought you'd never ask! I waited all day for this phone call, but, my parents are taking me out for dinner first, but I could have them drop me off on the way home?" Macy explained.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds really great." Stella responded, as she stared at the floor.

She was already feeling extremely ashamed. She shouldn't have to hide things like this from her best friend.

"Are you okay Stella? You sound funny." Macy told, before getting quiet on the other end.

"Yeah I'm fine." Stella replied, "Long day."

"Oh." Macy answered dully, before getting excited again, "Well I have so much to tell you!"

"Can't wait." Stella responded, "See you soon."

Over the next couple hours, waiting for Macy to get there, Stella had laid on her bed in thought. Then she'd cleaned her room. Then she'd laid on her bed and thought some more. It wasn't fair to lie to Macy any longer, and her best friend wasn't stupid. She'd figure it out eventually and then what? She'd be so frustrated that she'd been lied to, that the friendship might fall apart. So she contemplated. Tell her? Lie to her. Tell her? Lie to her. She knew the right choice. She just didn't know if it was the safe choice.

Another ten minutes and she'd decided she was going to tell Macy, but swear her to secrecy. This was something not even the boys could find out about. But Stella really needed someone to talk to. To talk to about what was really going on between her and her boyfriend.

When the doorbell rang, she was immediately nervous. She glanced in the mirror and made herself as presentable as she could, before taking a deep breath and heading downstairs.

When she opened the door, Macy instantly threw her arms around Stella's neck and gave her a hug. Stella grunted a little when Macy's arm brushed Stella's jaw, but quickly recovered, because a hug from Macy was just what she was needing at the moment. Stella hung onto her, and hung onto her, until finally...

"Uh Stella?" Macy laughed nervously.

"Hm?" Stella asked, opening her eyes, and realizing she still had Macy in a hug, "Oh, sorry Macy." she released her and backed up a little, letting her jaw shine for all who was looking. Thankfully it was only Macy, "I just really missed you."

That wasn't a lie. Stella did really miss Macy.

"I missed you too Stella," Macy replied with a smile. And then she seen Macy's facial expression change, and...well...here it came, "Oh my gosh...what happened to your face?"

Stella exhaled deeply, glancing at the floor a couple of times before finally answering, "You know what...it's a long story. We have all night to talk about it. How about we take your stuff upstairs first?"

Macy nodded, and mumbled out an 'okay', but still wore a concerned look on her face. Her jaw was purple and nearly black on the outside, and it looked so swollen and painful it almost made Macy cringe just looking at it. The rest of Stella seemed semi-normal, but...there was something on her mind. Macy could see it in her eyes.

After taking Macy's things to Stella's room, the two girls sat down on the bed, for some much needed girl chatter. Macy started first. She told Stella all about Volleyball camp, and how one of the instructors there were so cute, but still not as cute as the boys of JONAS. She talked about a couple friends she made, but how good it was to be home and take a break from some of the sports. There were 3 weeks left now since school started back up again, and Macy planned on spending them without doing any kind of athletic recreation. They talked a little bit about the boys, and how they were both excited for them to come home. Still that was about a week and a half away. Now it was time to get down to the hard part of the talk. Stella needed to come clean with Macy.

"So...Macy." Stella began, "Remember a few weeks ago when I told you I lost my phone?"

Macy contemplated for a moment, before nodding. She thought it had been strange for Stella to lose her phone, seeing as she was almost more attached to that thing than Joe.

"Well...I didn't actually lose it." Stella replied. "Zeke broke it."

Macy gasped, "Zeke? Your boyfriend Zeke?" she paused for a moment, "Why?"

"He was...upset with me." Stella answered. "He was browsing through my texts and noticed that I had quite a few of them from Joe, and…he also looked through my calling history. I guess he got jealous, so he decided to break my phone."

Macy shook her head, "That's ridiculous Stella. Have you explained to him that you and Joe are best friends? That you've known each other since...forever?"

Stella nodded, "He doesn't like it. I don't know why, but he just can't get used to the fact that Joe and I have been so close for so long."

Macy shook her head again, "Well if he thinks breaking your phone is going to keep you and Joe apart, you're going to need insurance for your next one. Because I have the feeling you're going to be going through a lot of phones."

Stella stared at the comforter for a moment, before speaking again, "He got mad at me today."

Macy said nothing, but her eyes widened, because she knew where this was going.

Stella felt tears burning at her. She didn't want to cry. At this point, she was an expert at being able to control crying, but she felt vulnerable with Macy. She felt so comfortable with her that she couldn't help it. "And I don't know why it's so upsetting because it was my fault, but I just..." she wiped her eyes, and glanced at Macy, "I just love him so much Macy." she paused again, to cry a little more.

"Oh Stella." Macy reached out for her friend and wrapped her arms around her. What was she supposed to say right now? She didn't even know where to start. If Zeke had done that to her jaw, Stella needed to know that this boy wasn't in a good state of mind, and definately didn't deserve her.

"And I had to give him my necklace." Stella managed to say in between heavy, violent sobs, "That necklace meant the world to me."

"The necklace Joe gave you?" Macy gasped. Even she knew that necklace was sacred. Neither Stella nor Joe ever took theirs off. Stella had always worn it religiously, and Joe even wore his on stage.

Stella nodded into Macy's shoulder, and the two of them sat there for a moment, just leaning into each other. Stella sobbing heavily, and Macy silently holding her, not knowing what she could say to comfort her friend right now.

After a few moments time, Stella pulled out of Macy's arms, and wiped her eyes again.

Macy sighed, "Stella." she began slowly, not quite making eye contact, "How long has this been happening?"

"How long has what been happening?" Stella asked, trying to get around the question. She wished Macy hadn't asked it. But then again, could she even remember how long it'd been happening? It felt like it'd been happening for forever, in all honesty.

"You and Zeke have been together for what? Since basically the beginning of summer right?" Macy asked.

"A week and two days into the summer I guess." Stella replied, doing the math in her head. She remembered she'd met him the day after the boys left for tour, when she'd gone to the mall to shop off her depression of them not being around all summer.

"He hasn't hit you this whole time, has he?" Macy asked, nearly gasping.

"Of course not, no. It doesn't happen very often actually..." Stella began, but trailed off when she noticed Macy's look of disbelief.

"I've seen bruises on you a few times Stella." Macy stated, "Have they all been from him?"

"You know..." Stella said, starting to feel she was sharing too much with Macy at this point, "I don't really know."

"Stella, I know you like him-"

"I love him."

"Okay fine. I know you love him, but this isn't healthy." Macy corrected herself, before going into lecture mode, "It is never, ever okay, for a guy to hit a girl. For any reason."

"I know Mace." Stella replied, sighing, "I know."

The two of them continued to talk into the night, and Stella promised Macy that if Zeke hit her again, she'd break up with him. In return, Macy had to promise Stella that she wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened, not even the boys.

Each of them felt confident enough that they'd keep each other's promises, so they were finally able to catch some sleep. They slept in until almost 10, when Stella's mom called them down for breakfast.

"Stella sweetie, what happened to your face?" her mom asked, sitting down a plate of eggs on the counter and walking over towards her.

"I uh…" Stella stole a glance from Macy, "I fell mom. Really though, I'm alright."

Macy tried ignoring the conversation as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. She couldn't fathom lying to her parents. And Stella had never been the type to do it before either.

She wasn't stupid though. She knew Stella was trying to defend her boyfriend. Macy had met him only once. He had seemed nice enough. He was cute, and was in college. But finding out that he had hit Stella was terrifying. What did it take to set someone off like that? To make them so mad they had to hit the one they claimed to love?

And Stella wanted to keep him a secret because she knew what he had done was wrong. She wanted to give him another chance, even though he might do it again. She had promised to break up with him if he hit her again, but Macy knew better.

What was even more unnerving was that Stella didn't want the boys to know, and she told them everything. They were her best friends. She dreaded them coming back now, because when they asked her what was wrong, she was going to end up lying to them to.

They hadn't even met Zeke yet, and if everyone stayed lucky, they never would meet him. She already knew Joe wouldn't like him at all. And if they found out that he had hit Stella? Nick would probably send him to the hospital with multiple injuries.

Macy already felt like this was such a huge mess. But all she could do is wait to see if promises were kept.

"Stella we should have taken you to the hospital. Why didn't you tell me about this when you called?" her mother continued to worry.

"I don't know…because I didn't want you to worry. There's not really anything the hospital could do for it anyway, right?" Stella replied, glancing over at Macy, who passed her the plate of pancakes.

"I suppose not, but at least they could give you something for the pain." Her mom replied, taking a sip of her coffee.

Stella shrugged, and started eating.

Her mother left 5 minutes later for work.

"Well…I guess it went well." Stella sighed, after her mom had left. She was playing with her food. She really wasn't that hungry. And it hurt to chew anyway.

Macy on the other hand, loved Ms. Malone's pancakes, and had finished two already. She nodded in response to what Stella had said.

"So." Macy said between chomps of food, "When do you see Zeke again?"

Stella sighed. "Not until Friday." She propped her head in her hand, and winced slightly. Her jaw was so touchy.

"Well…good." Macy answered, finishing the last bite of pancakes off her plate and taking it to the sink.

Stella frowned. How could that possibly be good? Macy walked over and grasped Stella's hand in hers, "Because I have been absolutely dying, to go shopping."

She pulled Stella up from the table, and they raced upstairs.

"You know that whatever you buy at the mall, I can just make for you, right?" Stella asked, as they climbed the stairs and rounded into her room.

"Yes I know, but my allowance was just sitting at home for 2 weeks." Macy replied, grabbing her toothbrush from her bag, "I want to go crazy today and spend it."

Stella smiled at Macy.

"And I want you to be there with me." Macy finished, before smiling warmly back at her.

"Aw Mace." Stella reached over and pulled her into a hug. "You know, I just want to say thanks for…you know." She paused for a moment, glancing at the floor, "Listening to me."

"Stella you're my best friend." Macy replied, holding her hands in hers, "And I'll be here forever."

Hearing Macy say that almost made tears come to Stella's eyes. She was so glad she was back.

While Macy was in the bathroom getting ready to go, her cell phone had rang. Stella listened to the awesome voices of her 3 boys. Macy always had a JONAS ringtone.

"Hey Stella?" Macy called from the other side of the bathroom door, "Hey that's one of the guys will you answer it please?"

"Oh." Stella replied, "Sure!"

Stella grabbed Macy's purse from the foot of the bed and filtered through it quickly, hoping she wouldn't miss the call. But she found it fast, and noticed it was Nick. A smile came to her face as she flipped open the phone. Gosh. It was almost like she'd forgotten how to use one.

"Hello?" Stella answered excitedly.

"Stells?!" came Nick's excited voice from the other end.

'Stella picked up?!' she heard Kevin say in the background.

'Nick give me the phone!' Joe demanded from the background also.

"Back off Joe, I'm talking to her first." Nick snapped in reply.

Stella laughed as she heard Joe groan, 'Well you didn't have to hit me.'

"Stella? Oh my gosh where have you been? We've each tried to call you probably a hundred times." Nick explained all at once. "We were beginning to think you got mad at us for something."

"Yeah no, I'm not mad at you at all." Stella replied, "My cell phone was…" she paused for a quick second, "Lost…a while back and I haven't gotten a new one yet, so…" she paused again, feeling guilty for the lie she'd just fed to her best friend, but there was no way she could tell Nick it'd had been broken. That would only raise the question of 'how'd that happen Stells? You're more protective over your phone than you are of that jacket you made me.', so she quickly changed the subject, "Gosh it's so good to hear your voice."

"It's great to hear yours too Stella. I really miss you." Nick responded, before she heard a 'I miss her too!' by Joe, followed by a, 'Well no one misses her like I do!' by Kevin.

It brought a smile to her face, hearing the three of them again. On top of that, it was almost bringing tears to her eyes. She had missed them so, so much. Experiencing this summer without them was almost an unbearable thought. And the fact that she'd had to do it anyway was just beyond unnerving. They were so in the dark about what had been going on, and she felt that even after they came home she wouldn't be able to share it with them. Not this. They'd be so disappointed in her. She couldn't bear it. "I…I miss you guys too." She told, sucking in a deep breath and trying to fight tears, "You …oh you just have no idea how much I miss you." She stood up and began pacing the floor.

"Well tour is over in less than 2 weeks, and we plan on doing nothing but spending time with you when we get home." Nick informed. He noted something in her voice, "Is something wrong?"

"No." Stella answered almost too quickly, "Uh no, I just…am really looking forward to you coming home." She really was. But how was she going to manage spending all that time with them without her boyfriend catching on to something? Maybe she could tell him that her mom was going to take her out of town for a few days. That she always did before school started again…

But if he was to somehow find out that wasn't true..she didn't even want to think of how harsh the consequences would be.

"Us too." Nick answered back, before sighing, "Well, I better let one of the others talk to you. You know how Kevin gets when he has to be patient for too long. Love you Stells."

"Love you Nick." Stella replied, before she heard a shuffling noise and a loud voice came in over the phone, "STELLAAAA!"

"Kevin." Stella stated in a much calmer tone, "How are things on the road?"

"Ugh." Kevin sighed, "It's been fun, but I'm so ready to be home." He answered, putting emphasis on the 'so'.

"I bet." Stella said, sitting on the bed, "It hasn't been the same this summer without you guys."

"I know. Summer hasn't been the same without you either." Kevin told, before there was a pause, and Stella heard Kevin say 'Stop rushing me, Joe!' He sighed. "By the way, Joe ripped my black jacket."

'How was I supposed to know it was yours?' she heard Joe argue from the background.

"Anyway, he's dying to talk to you. Give him the third degree." Kevin informed, as Joe muttered something in the background that Stella couldn't quite make out, "Love you."

"Love you." Stella answered back in a slight laugh.

Then his voice came over the line. Her stomach fluttered, her heart skipped a beat. She reached up to grab a hold of. . . air again. It was going to take some getting used to. She frowned. What was she going to tell Joe when he noticed it was missing?

"Stella?" came Joe's voice.

"Hey Joe!" Stella quickly recovered from her brief distraction. "Joe. Oh my gosh."

"How are you?" Joe asked her.

His voice. His voice did things to her that she couldn't explain.

"I'm fine. How are you?" Stella asked.

"Tired." Joe exclaimed, "Especially of my brothers. I can't wait to get home and see you."

"I really can't wait to see you either." Stella answered back softly.

"Stella…" Joe paused for a second, "You sound strange…is everything alright?"

"Yeah Joe, everything's fine." Stella replied, "It's like I told Nick. I just…really miss you guys."

"We miss you too, Stella. We miss you too." Joe answered back, ignoring the fact that Kevin and Nick were now in a heated discussion about where exactly on the road they were.

'No, Kevin, we're not. We just passed the road sign that said we're 186 miles from St. Louis!'

'Nick, dad tried telling you months ago that you needed glasses, because the sign said we're 786 miles from St. Louis.'

'Why would there be a road sign for 786 miles away from somewhere Kevin?'

'I don't know Nick I didn't make the sign myself.'

'Wow. You're incredible. You know that?'

"Anyways." Joe sighed sharply into the phone. "I can't wait to hang out with you again. I was thinking…you know you'll have to spend some time with Nick and Kevin too, but…maybe one day before school we can just spend together? You know…" Joe paused for a moment, and Stella could tell by his tone that he was nervous to be saying this, "Just you and me?"

Stella smiled to herself, "I would like that a lot." Whether or not it'd actually happen? That was another story. Their time was limited anyway. Hard to believe she would be going back to school in just 3 more weeks.

"God Stella, I love you so much. It's been so hard without you."

Stella was crying silently at this point. She couldn't stand this anymore. The love she had for the three of these boys. How could she have ever believed she loved anyone more than them? She was going to have to talk to Zeke. No way she could give up what she had with the boys just to make him happy. He'd just have to understand. There was no other way.

"Stella…really…" Joe was saying, "What's wrong?" His voice had gotten soft. He could tell. They all could. Kevin a little less than Joe and Nick, but either way, they knew her better than anyone else did.

"It's really nothing too serious." Stella sobbed, before sighing heavily, "We can you know, talk about it whenever you guys get home."

"Well you know, we're 182 miles away from St. Louis, so if you need to talk we have time." Joe replied.

'I think you mean 782 miles Joe.'

"Uh, you know Stella, maybe we should wait to talk about this when we get home. Too much going on in the background." Joe said, exaggerating 'background'.

"Yeah." Stella smiled, finishing up the last of her sobbing. She heard the bathroom door open behind her and Macy stepped out, dressed and ready to impress. She smiled towards Stella. She was happy that she was talking with the boys again. It'd been weeks since they'd spoken, and the boys called Macy nearly everyday asking about her.

"Well I think I have to go Joe." Stella said, not wanting to at all, but not knowing if she could handle anymore of this emotional phone call, "Macy and I are going shopping today."

"Shopping?" Joe asked, before emitting a 'pfft' sound, "She just wants to go see that new guy working at the Dip N Dots stand."

"A new guy working at the Dip N Dots stand?" Stella questioned, turning her gaze towards Macy again.

Macy, who was leaned over, putting her clothes into her bag, froze in place. Stupid Joe and his big mouth. She'd told him that in secrecy a few weeks ago before she'd left for the camp. Besides, he was just nice to look at. Macy's heart was still set on Nick, even though she knew it was a shot in hell there. She waved a hand at Stella, who was still looking at her expectantly.

'What new guy at the Dip N Dots stand?' Kevin's curious voice asked in the background.

Joe ignored the question, of course, and he laughed nervously, "But you didn't hear that from me." He forgot it was supposed to be a secret. It was hard for him though. There were usually no secrets between him and his brothers, nor them and Stella. "But anyway, can we talk to you again later?"

"Sure." Stella replied happily, "I mean, I don't have my cell anymore though. But…we'll find a way."

There was a loud yelp in the background.

'Kevin.' Nick's furious voice began, 'Do you mind telling me why, you just threw my shake out the window?!'

'Sorry!' Kevin replied, 'I thought there was a bug crawling on the cup.'

"Well I really better go anyway." Joe sighed, "Nick's about to kill Kevin, and, I could use a nap before St. Louis."

"Have a good show."

"Have fun shopping."

"I can't wait to see you guys."

"We can't wait to see you either."

"Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"I…love you."

"I love you more."

Later on at the mall, the girls finally stopped at the food court to take a break from the shopping. Though they could do it for many hours, Stella's jaw was beginning to throb, and she wanted to get something cold on it, so she ordered a milkshake, while Macy ate an order of fries. Silence fell between them, but after Macy watched Stella playing with her straw for a good 5 minutes, she decided to start some kind of conversation.

"So…what did the boys say?" Macy asked Stella.

Stella glanced up at her for a second with a small, weak smile on her face. She looked back down at her cup. "All the right things."

Macy didn't really have a response for this. She folded her arms and sat back in her chair, continuing to study Stella while she played with her straw.

"Can I ask for your advice on something Macy?" Stella finally asked

Macy smiled, and leaned up onto the edge of the table, "Of course. Anything."

"How would you go about having the best of both worlds in this situation?" Stella asked, and watched as Macy immediately started silently contemplating this. "I love Zeke. He's made me so happy this summer, but…I just can't let them go."

Macy nodded in response and muttered an 'mmhmm.' She knew Stella was struggling horribly over this. It was like she was having to choose, and she shouldn't be. Zeke was the possessive type. One that would leap to outrageous conclusions when his girlfriend had other friends that were guys. And those outrageous conclusions had caused Stella a broken cell phone, and a broken jaw. The situation seemed impossible. Truth was, Macy didn't know what the right answer to this was. If Stella told Zeke that she refused to stop seeing the boys? Chances were, Zeke's reaction wasn't going to be very pleasant. If Stella told the boys she could only see them in school from now on, they'd be crushed for an eternity, because the friendship between the four of them was sacred. She really wasn't going to get out of this without someone getting hurt.

"Stella." Macy finally leaned furthur forward, "I'm not sure how you should approach it. I wish I could just make it go away for you. But I will be by your side through this." She sighed and reached over for her hand. "And know that whatever happens, I love you."

Stella couldn't speak. Macy's words had flown straight to her heart. She finally uttered out a 'thank you so much.' And gave Macy's hand a soft squeeze. "It means so much to me Mace."

Macy nodded, and watched Stella return to her milkshake.

Friday finally rolled around, and Stella was looking forward to seeing Zeke. Not seeing him for a few days had helped her build up the confidence to say what she needed to say to him. She'd rehearsed it a thousand times in her head, and a thousand scenes had played out in her mind. Zeke had told her that he loved her. And because of that she needed him to be accepting of the fact that the boys were a huge part of her life, and had been for years. Her jaw was looking a little better also, after it having been so bruised and broken – the swelling had gone down an extreme amount, and color was starting to return to it. She'd managed to tell Macy the truth about Zeke without revealing the entire truth about Zeke the other night, and that had really helped. While Macy now knew that he had the capacity to be violent and that he did in fact, break her jaw over jealousy of Joe – Macy didn't need to know that Zeke had been beating her for so long. Because that was in the past. Today a new leaf would be turned over, and they could move on to a more healthier stage in their relationship. Just the thought of it was more than thrilling.

Everything was going perfectly too. He'd picked her up and taken her to Panera Bread, one of her favorite lunch spots. They talked about how his exams were going, and what they might do over the weekend. As they were on their way back to her place, Stella started feeling a little nervous, but she did her best to keep the confidence she'd gained over the past couple days. She needed to address the issue of the boys. The chance presented itself quickly when silence had fallen between them about halfway back to her house.

"So…Zeke." Stella began, eyes glued to the dash board, doing her best to keep the wheels in her head focused on just getting the right words to come out. "I can talk to you about anything, right?"

Zeke smiled over at her, "I'm not sure I like where this is going already, but of course you can hun. Anything at all."

Stella smiled back, "Well it's nothing bad, I just…felt like I needed to be open and honest with you over a couple of things."

"A couple?"

"Well, one in particular."

"Alright. Hit me."

"What?" Stella nearly panicked at the word 'hit'. She was looking at him with confusion.

"No, honey," Zeke almost laughed, "I meant, lay it on me. What's on your mind?"

"Oh, uh…right." Stella faced the dash again, wondering what the heck had come over her. She swallowed hard, "Well…as you know, my uh, my friends are coming home from tour in a little over a week."

"What friends?"

"You know the…the band…my friends." Stella replied, already feeling even more nervous. 'Please don't ask their names.' Repeated over and over in her mind, and she waited for some kind of confirmation that he was still listening.

"Go on." Zeke continued, though his tone had already changed.

"Uh well they, they've been my best friends since…well forever." Stella continued, her words beginning to shake, "And usually when they get back from tour, we spend a few days together before school starts."

She glanced over at him again, but his eyes were glued to the road. Stella didn't really know if she should continue to talk or not. She didn't want to overdue it. A minute passed and his eyes had remained in the same place. He hadn't said anything.

"So." His voice finally cut through the tension that had been building in the air, and his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. "You want to spend the last days of your summer vacation with God knows how many other boys."

"Um…there's only three-"

"Shutup!" Zeke snapped, causing Stella to jump slightly in her seat. His hand slapped the dash board roughly.

Stella knew that she needed to keep quiet at this point. She should have never brought this up. But he'd told her she could talk to him about anything. And wasn't she doing the right thing by letting him know about this first instead of sneaking behind his back?

"Three boys." Zeke said, before laughing quietly and shaking his head. "You'd rather spend your last days of break with three other boys and not me."

Stella wanted to protest. She wanted to protest bad. But not nearly as much as she just wanted to be out of the car right now. When she remained silent, his head snapped around to glare at her, "ANSWER ME!"

Stella scooted closer to the door and looked at him. He was beyond angry. This wasn't going to be good. And just when her jaw was starting to feel a little better.

"IS THAT WHO YOU'D RATHER SPEND THEM WITH?!"

"Of course not!" Stella replied, trying to respond in a high enough tone so that he'd hear her, and hopefully stop yelling.

"Well that's what it sounds like to me." Zeke replied, his voice finally returning to just a cold, tone as opposed to a loud, cold tone.

Stella glanced out the window. She wanted to be anywhere but with him right now. Anywhere at all.

"I see we're once again going to have to talk about this." Zeke continued, and Stella didn't make any move to look at him. His hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly still, she could hear the sound they were making as the rubber was being twisted and turned in his grip. "When are you going to learn that when you have a boyfriend…hanging out with other boys, isn't acceptable?"

Stella continued to say nothing, just stare out the window. But she guessed that wasn't the right thing to do. Before she knew what was happening, sharp, searing pains filled every inch of her face. She had an instant migraine. Her eyes watered as she felt warm blood trickling out of her nose. She felt fierce fingers grab her by the back of the head and lift her head off the front of the dash board.

"Are you listening to me?!" She heard Zeke's words, but they were only echoeing in her ears. Her vision was blurring in and out. Things were going black every other second.

"I…" she exhaled quietly. She was out of breath.

Bam. There it was again. Sharp pains shot through her again. Her face felt like a stick of dynamite getting ready to explode. Fingers through her hair again as her face was lifted off the dash board. Blood poured from her mouth now, along with her nose. Her eyes were squeezed shut.

"God…you know what? I can't even deal with you right now." She heard Zeke's words echoeing again.

The car screeched to a halt, she didn't know where they were, on the side of some road by a wooded area. She heard his car door slam, and seconds later, she was being dragged out of the car by her hair. Her body hit the ground harshly. A few more seconds later, and the car screeched away, the back tire catching the fingers on her left hand.

Stella screamed loudly as she felt every finger on her hand crunch and crush under the pressure of the tire. She drew her shaking hand towards her chest, but she couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't make anything of it. It just hurt. Her head was exploding, and she was nearly gagging on the warm blood that just wouldn't stop flowing out of her mouth. She resisted the urge to scream again, but she was pretty sure she was crying. She had to be. She had to focus on breathing right now. She hadn't been getting much air for at least 5 good minutes now, and she felt very deprived. She gasped aloud, letting her lungs inhale deeply the air that she so desperately needed at that moment.

God, please, make it stop. Just make the pain go away right now, please.

She knew God exsisted, but she wasn't sure that He'd ever heard her before. There was no one else there to save her at that moment, but she was most certaintly sure she needed saving.

* * *

**AN : And so it begins. You guys let me know what you think! Leave me a comment, critique, anything! Thanks for reading!**


	2. The Art Of Deception

**AN : Hey everyone! First off, a big apology for making you guys wait for so long for this part. Second - thanks for the great reviews! They really made my day. I wasn't sure if anyone was going to really care for this type of story, so I really appreciate the awesome feedback. Thirdly - this chapter was originally going to be longer, containing two chapter sub plots. However, last minute decision I decided to take the second sub plot out and just make the next chapter a huger piece. So I've already got about the first 3,000 words for chapter 3 written, AND good news - I have the next several days off so I will have the next part done MUCH faster, and it will be MUCH longer. Thanks so much again to all of you who waited for me to get this done. Let me know what you think of this part (thought shorter than originally intended). **

_Disclaimer : I do not own the show JONAS or any of the characters associated._

* * *

Unbroken

Part Two - The Art Of Deception

* * *

The next thing Stella knew, her eyes were fluttering open. She felt frozen. Her body was stiff, and heavy. She held her left hand with her right one. All the pain came rushing back to her, but she had to figure out where she was, and what was wrong with her hand. She felt slightly rested in the aspect of her head didn't hurt quite so badly, and could only assume she had been recently sleeping. There was no telling how much time had passed.

She spent nearly 10 minutes trying to move herself into a sitting position. When she finally did, she sat her left hand carefully into her lap, before blinking several times at her surroundings. She was sitting next to a road, right outside a wooded area. It took a couple of minutes, but slowly she was able to get her eyes in a good enough focus to where she glanced down at her hand. It was purple, almost black. Her fingers were swelled up so bad they were all touching each other, and when she tried to move them, she had to fight the urge to scream. So much for 'toughening up'.

Her head began pounding again. It was evening time, she assumed, the sky was slightly dim. She glanced around once more. She didn't know exactly where she was, but if she got up and followed the road, hopefully it would lead to a main road somewhere. But then again…if she followed the road, someone might see her and want to ask her questions about…

Had Zeke really done this to her? No…he loved her. Didn't he?

She could worry about that later. Right now she needed to get up off of the ground. She did so, surprisingly faster than it took her to even sit up, and she glanced around again. Maybe she should just try to cut through the woods. No…she didn't want to risk getting lost. She'd just have to follow the road, and pray that no one would cross her path in the process.

What she really wanted to do was take a Tylenol. But she didn't have her purse with her. She must have left it in Zeke's car.

She glanced around for a moment again. God only knew where she was right now.

It took her nearly an hour and a half to get back into town, and had lucked out because the only two people who'd driven past her on the road didn't even bother stopping.

She was walking into her house an hour later, and she wasn't so lucky when her mother screamed bloody murder at the sight of her. She'd been asked question after question, all of which she didn't want to answer. She had settled for telling her mom she couldn't remember. Her mom then stopped asking questions and insisted she go to the hospital immediately. When Stella looked at herself in the mirror, she figured it might not be such a bad idea after all.

**

A warm hand wrapped around her good one, and Stella opened her eyes and glanced at Macy, who had a horrified look on her face. Her mom must have told her she was in the hospital.

She had been lying down resting when her mom had left to go get something to eat, and she must have drifted off. She couldn't have been out for long though, because she sure didn't feel like she'd rested much.

"So, how bad is it?" Macy asked her, still horrified by the scene in front of her.

"Well." Stella winced as she sat up on the bed. "I can honestly say I feel worse now than the time I fell into that trashcan at school."

"What happened?" Macy asked, knowing Stella probably didn't want to tell her.

Stella glanced down at the floor and sighed. "I don't know Macy."

Macy sighed in response. Did Stella really think she was that stupid? She did understand the frustration that Stella was probably feeling of having to come to terms with the fact that her boyfriend was a psychopath. But was it seriously worth lying to your own mother? Your best friends? "Stella, I know that you told your mom that you couldn't remember. But I know that you do." She paused, knowing Stella wasn't going to take this next part well, "If Zeke did this to you, then he needs to be reported."

Stella pointedly looked at her, "Macy…Zeke can…get a little out of hand sometimes. But you have to realize that the way I feel about him is strong enough to overlook the things that have been happening between us lately. He does love me."

Macy glanced away, unbelieving. She didn't know who Stella was trying to convince here. But she couldn't very well complain about it to her right now. She was in no condition to take it.

"How did you know I was here anyway?" Stella asked after a moment's silence of them both pondering.

"Your mom called me. Said you probably could use the company of a friend." Macy replied. "And…there are a few others coming too."

Stella looked at her with a puzzled expression. "A few other…Macy, tell me you didn't."

"I didn't." Macy explained, "Your mom did. When she came out of your room and asked me for their number…I just…" she sighed, "Your mom is really worried about you."

There was a slight moment of silence between them before she heard a sob come from Macy. She glanced up at her again.

"I'm worried about you." Macy added, her eyes getting red and watery, "I don't know what to do Stella."

Stella's heart was literally breaking, as she reached her arm up and pulled Macy down into a hug. All she could do was hold her sobbing friend. 'Oh God…' she thought, 'What am I doing?' She felt her eyes start burning.

"I'm so scared for you." Macy whispered, through racked sobs.

Stella sobbed onto her friend's shoulder, feeling the guilt and the weight of her false stories and choices, falling onto her all at once. She felt awful. Physically and mentally awful.

But what was she supposed to do? She could always keep the promise she'd made to Macy, but she didn't just want to throw away this relationship. She'd been dealing with this for a long time now and proved she could live through it. How could she turn her back on Zeke? Even if she wanted to anyway, she probably couldn't. He'd be furious at the mention of 'break up'.

Macy was in a mental battle with herself. As she and Stella held each other silently, she couldn't help but think of the mess that she was sure would come. The boys were on their way home, and were going to demand explanation. What the heck was Stella going to say? Macy didn't know if she could handle just sitting by and letting Stella lie to them. And why would she anyway? Stella had never lied to any of them before. This boy had twisted her and tweaked her into something different. Sure there were traces of the real Stella left, but now they were hidden underneath a wave of bruises and deception. She had to make up stories to cover up why she was getting hurt. Then she'd have to go and make excuses to Zeke to try and keep herself from getting hurt any further. It was a nightmare to even think about.

"So." Stella cleared her throat, interrupting Macy's thought process. "I have to admit I'm kind of excited that the boys are coming back."

Macy picked her head up and smiled, wiping away some stray tears, "Me too."

Stella could tell that this had made Macy feel better, and that's what counted. But all she could think of was how mad Zeke would be when he found out her friends had come home early.

**

She'd drifted off again, she supposed, because when she opened her eyes, another hour had passed. She glanced around the room. Macy was sitting in a chair beside the bed, texting someone. Her mom still hadn't returned. Or if she had, she had slept through seeing her. Or maybe she'd simply gone to the restroom.

"Macy?" she glanced over towards her friend.

Macy immediately dropped what she was doing when she heard Stella say something to her, "Yeah Stella?"

"I didn't fall asleep on you did I?" Stella asked, already feeling bad.

"You did." Macy nodded, but smiled reassuringly, "But I understand. It's okay."

Stella sighed, and attempted to sit up in the bed. When she couldn't manage it, Macy wanted to cry. But she sucked it in, and stood up, willing herself to be strong for Stella in a moment where she was so weak. "I'll do it for you Stella. I think…there's a button down here somewhere." Macy told, glancing around at the buttons on the side of the hospital bed.

"Thanks." Stella replied. She directed her attention toward the table beside her. Macy's phone screen was lit up and vibrating on the table. "I think you're getting a call."

Macy glanced over at the table, "Oh!" she dashed over to it. "It must be the guys. They texted while you were asleep and said they'd call when they got here so they could find the room."

Stella still couldn't believe they were coming. Part of her was beyond excited. She couldn't wait to hug every single one of them and never let go. However, the other part dreaded giving them an explanation as to why she got into this condition…when…telling them would break their hearts.

"Are you here?" she heard Macy say over the phone.

Stella was trying to think…

She still didn't even know whether or not the truth would do more harm, or good right now. Of course, lying was never a good thing.

"The boys are on their way up." Macy interrupted her thoughts when she flipped her phone shut. She folded her arms, and leaned over onto the bed. She could tell that Stella was miserable right now, and she probably didn't know what the heck to make of the situation at hand. "Have you decided what you're going to tell them?"

Stella met Macy's eyes. What was she going to tell them?

Well. There was always the truth. However, the truth would kill them. They'd be so disappointed in her, and how she let herself get into this predicament in the first place. Kevin would try to lecture her and somehow use the words chowder, monkey, pogo, harpsicord, and time machine. Nick would just want to go and pummel Zeke. Joe? . . .Oh Joe. What would he say? What would he do? It was too much. All too much. "I don't know." she finally answered.

Macy sighed, "Stella." she began, "I don't mean to try and make this decision for you, but these boys are your best friends. Don't you think you can trust them with this?"

"That's just the thing Macy." Stella replied, "I know that I can, but what happens when they find out and Nick's temper is blown out of the water? And Joe doesn't even know what to say? And Kevin tries to take it seriously but can't?" she paused as she watched Macy slump back in her seat. The more and more Stella thought about it, the more she was bailing out of the 'truth' option. She didn't think she could bear the consequences of the truth. She just wanted her normal boys back. She needed them to make her laugh, and tell her they wanted pockets on their pants for pizza. "I just don't want them to come home from tour and immediately have to deal with this."

"But Stella-" Macy began to protest but was cut off when there was a knock at the door.

The two girls looked at each other and Macy got up from her seat to go get it. When she opened the door, the nurse was standing there looking quite annoyed as Nick, Joe, and Kevin were all talking to him at once.

"What do you mean we can't go in there? I'm telling you, the patient is our best friend!"

"I got a 'Hottie Of The Year' award, I deserve a little respect."

Kevin was mumbling something about the nurse's face mask, when all their eyes adverted towards her. "Macy!"

The three boys bombarded her, well, rather Joe and Kevin did while Nick was a lot more conservative considering too much affection never really excited him, and sandwiched her in a tight hug. Macy did her best to hug the three of them back, but her arms only stretched so far.

"It's so good to see you." Joe said, as the three of them backed away.

"It's so nice to hug you." Kevin added, while Joe and Nick both nodded in agreement.

"Do you know these guys?" the nurse interrupted, arms folded across his chest, as he and Joe began a heated staring contest. "Because I don't appreciate being told that I would 'never get a hottie of the year award.' " he paused for a moment before adding, "Not that it matters."

Joe made a 'pfft' sound, and Macy felt a small smile form on her lips. "Yes they're okay. They're the best friends."

"I thought you were the best friend." The nurse said, raising his eyebrow.

Macy glanced down nervously. That's right. Stella was only allowed a certain amount of visitors. Family always made the list, but the nurse's usually didn't smile too brightly upon the best friends.

"Look just limit yourselves. One at a time, and don't stay for hours. She needs rest." the nurse grumbled as he sauntered off, and Kevin could have swore he heard him say 'damn kids' as he passed by.

"Well he was a ray of sunshine." Kevin commented.

"And definately not a hottie." Joe added, as Kevin nodded.

Nick rolled his eyes and turned to Macy. "How is she?"

Macy brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "She's doing okay. She just woke up about 15 minutes ago."

"Joe?" Nick asked, turning towards the middle brother. "You want to go first?"

Joe knew Nick wanted to go in just as bad as he did. In fact, he could tell by the look in Nick's eyes that even asking the question had bothered him.

But Stella was waiting for him. She had to know by now that they were coming back, and he didn't want to waste any time he had to spend with her. However, he didn't even know if he would be able to handle seeing Stella. When Ms. Malone had called them, she'd said that there'd been an accident, and that Stella looked really rough. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath, and disappeared behind the door.

"Why does he get to go first?" Kevin asked, as he glared at Nick.

**

Stella smiled the best she could. For the first time in a while, a feeling of joy filled her body, making her pain seem so far away as she watched Joe walk over towards her. However, the look in his eyes...on his face...his body language made her want to cry. His steps were almost frozen as they heaved towards her. Worry was written all over him. Concern, sadness, and question filled his eyes. Stella felt horrible because she knew this is not something her best friends probably had ever wanted to come home to.

"Stella." Joe whispered, as he sat down in the chair beside her bed. He leaned onto the side of it, studying her injuries, struggling because he just didn't want to believe what he was seeing.

"Hi." Stella replied, as she gazed at him, "It's so good to see you."

Joe blinked a few times, still unable to find the right thoughts. He had no idea it was going to be like this. He'd imagined maybe a broken arm. Some bruising. But Stella was hooked up to all kinds of IV's. Her face had multiple bandages on it. It was all purple and black, with just a few splotches of normal skin trying to shine in between. The fingers on her left hand were each in splints, not to mention her entire left hand was bruised and swollen. "I..." he paused, choking down some air, "It's good to see you too."

He watched Stella trying to sit up a little better. Normally he'd be helping her, but he was afraid to even touch her. Her entire body looked weak. Like it would crumble and shatter if a feather touched it. The entire image of her right now left him breathless.

Stella, frustrated that she couldn't scoot herself up very well, finally gave up. She glanced toward him again. She loved just looking at him. "Look, Joe..." she began, finally getting him to at least blink. She wasn't sure if she'd ever have gotten a reaction, but this was at least something. "I'm really sorry that...you had to find out about all of this." He almost looked hurt by her statement, so Stella quickly continued, "I mean..not that you wouldn't have been told, but I feel bad. It interrupted your tour and-"

"Stella." Joe stopped her there, "You know you sound ridiculous right now. I mean, what kind of best friends would we be if we didn't come visit you in the hospital? All we could think about was getting home."

Stella believed him. The love between herself and the boys was something that was so sacred, that they were each other's air.

"I mean...Nick couldn't even play his guitar on the way home without messing up, and Kevin was actually quiet." Joe continued, "You shouldn't feel bad about any of this. We just wanted to get to you as quick as we could."

Great. He just had to go and get all sentimental on her about this. Did he not understand that it was only making her feel worse? She couldn't blame him though. If she'd gotten a phone call about one of them getting hurt on the tour, she would have been there in a heartbeat. She just hoped her guilt wouldn't eat her alive by the end of this evening.

Oh yeah. The guilt. The truth. She glanced at Joe, and their eyes made an intense connection. She knew he wanted to ask what happened. She wanted to tell him. She really did. She felt him take her good hand in his. The warmth of his skin made her feel completely safe, and she knew at that moment that she didn't need Zeke anymore. All she needed was the boy sitting with her. Well. And his brother's too.

"Uh…" Stella's voice was shaky. She knew what she had to do, but it wouldn't be easy. She had to tell Joe, Nick and Kevin about Zeke. Starting was the hardest part, but this was her chance. She could get away from it all if she could just open up her mouth and say something. Zeke. He would be pissed if he knew she was with them right now. Especially Joe. He knew the name Joe well at this point – and it was a name that had made him furious enough to break her jaw. What would he do if he knew she was going to tell his secret? What would he do if he found out she'd already told Macy a fraction of it? Endless waves of pain. How could she do that to the boy she felt she loved? He'd shared her summer with her. While Macy was away for her sports camps, and the boys were touring, and her mom was working late…it was Zeke who spent time with her. Made her feel like her summer wasn't going to be a waste. Gave her something to do other than sit at home. Turned her into a woman. Loved her. How would he feel if he found out she'd turned her back on him? Would all those times they spoke 'I love you' to each other turn into meaningless memories?

She wouldn't do this to him. She DID need Zeke.

"Stella?" Joe asked, interrupting her thinking process, "Stella are you okay?" He waved his free hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" she made eye contact with him, "I mean yes." She paused again, "I'm fine."

"You kind of zoned out." Joe replied, "I think you were about to say something."

'Yeah.' Stella thought, 'Close call.'

*

The visits with all of them had gone well. Joe and her had ended up getting back on a decent note with each other. He'd told her about the tour, a fan getting onstage during one of the shows, and even the nurse in the hallway that would never win the hottie award. Kevin had come in and played her some guitar - which she'd always loved, and told her about feeding the otters at the many zoos across the country. Nick of course was the most serious visit, and she'd had some trouble dodging a couple bullets with him, but it didn't take long for him to get on a rant about wanting to kill his brothers during half the tour. Through all the aching of Stella's body, she really did feel happier than she had in a while at being able to see their faces.

They were all getting ready to leave for the night, and Stella's mom had shown back up. Come to find out she'd left to go home and call some of the extended family about the accident.

"Night Stells. Love you." Nick told, as he leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head, before heading towards the door. He shared a glare with the grumpy nurse as he exited to wait for the rest of them.

"Love you Stella. See you tomorrow." Kevin said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, and then turning to leave as well. He reached up for a high five from the nurse, who only scowled at him in return. Kevin frowned, and let his hand slump to his side. Some people were just too serious.

Joe shook his head at his brother's sad attempt for socializing with the nurse, and turned to Stella himself. He glanced down at her, "Well. Tomorrow then." He was too scared to try and hug her, so he settled for scuffing his feet on the floor, and putting his hands in his pockets.

"Right." Stella replied, feeling exhausted as she nodded her head, "See you then."

She hoped Joe would make some kind of move to show her some affection, but he gave her a simple nod, and turned to walk away. She longingly glanced after him, and watched him slip away from her and out the door.

She sunk into her bed as she watched the nurse gather a few items and leave the room, pulling the door shut behind her. The doctor had come in during Kevin's visit and told her that she could go home tomorrow. Which would be good because then she could retrieve her purse from Zeke's house, maybe spend a little time with him and then go to the boys' and hang out with them. She was supposed to rest, but she wouldn't be able to lie at home without seeing her boyfriend, or seeing the guys.

The truth had not made an appearance tonight, and she felt right now that it had probably been for the best. Now she was just going to have to learn how to somehow keep Zeke the best kept secret ever. And being friends with Joe, Nick and Kevin? Made keeping secrets really hard.

She could do this. She hadn't lied to them. At least she didn't have to live with that. She'd just chosen to simply not tell them. In fact, they hadn't even asked her what happened. Though she was certain they all had wanted to, Nick especially. If she could just keep them from asking…then that would save her from having to tell them. Hopefully that would be simple enough. Because if things got any more complicated? She wouldn't make it.


	3. Everybody Loves IHOP

**AN : Words cannot even express how sorry I am about not updating this story alot more often. Extended apologies especially to those of you who have waited so patiently for this!**

_Disclaimer : I do not own JONAS or any of the characters associated. Except maybe Zeke. And I don't even know if I WANT to own him. :P_

* * *

Unbroken

Part Three - Everybody Loves IHOP

Kevin, Joe, and Nick stood outside the room. None of them wanted to wake Macy. She'd seemed a mixture of emotions when they'd arrived. Worry, fear, anxious, confused, nervous, and completely exhausted. She needed to sleep, but…she looked extremely uncomfortable in the hard, plastic hospital chair. Nick had told her that if she needed to get home and get some rest, she could. But she'd insisted on staying, saying she didn't want to leave Stella.

She had proved loyal as could be to their Stella, and they'd grown very fond of Macy in just a short year since they'd really started talking to her more.

They watched as she attempted to shift on the chair to a more comfortable position. The JONAS Summer Tour t-shirt they'd brought her was clutched tightly in her right hand.

Nick sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. He was feeling rather crappy, considering he was jet lagged, and still in a state of shock from having received Stella's mother's phone call earlier that day. They'd hopped on the JONAS jet instantly, cancelled the four remaining shows they had left of the tour, and even though they were getting home as fast as they could, they still felt like they would never reach Stella. Nick had felt so panicked the entire way that nothing could calm him down. His blood sugar kept rising up and down with adrenaline rushes, and his heart just wouldn't stop pounding. He knew that Kevin and Joe were equally as panicked, but he'd felt like he was going to pass out multiple times.

His talk with Stella had seemed a little strange. She, for one, looked like the top half of her body had been drug through a lawnmower almost – with all the cuts and bruises on her face. Something else seemed off though also. He'd never seen her look so uncomfortable around him. He'd known her since he was four years old. Even then she had never seemed so twitchy in his presence. He hadn't wanted to ask what happened, not yet anyways, and he'd made that a goal for himself before he'd even gone in the room to see her. But when he walked in and faced her, he wanted to ask that question more than anything else. It almost made him feel bad. There his best friend was, lying in the hospital, hurt to God knows what extent – and all he could think about was getting to the bottom of the predicament. Several things had crossed his mind. Hit by a car? Fell down a long flight of stairs? Trampled by JONAS heads?

Stella was probably in no mood to talk about it. She was barely able to talk properly in the first place. And that was why he hadn't asked. But he knew he'd be up all night now, because it'd be plaguing him.

"Well I'm waking her up." Joe's voice finally cut through the silence, "Because I'm not leaving her here to sleep on these horrible chairs."

Joe walked over to Macy's snoozing form, reaching out to lightly take her by the arm. "Macy?" his voice was soft.

It was enough though. Macy shot up into a sitting position as Joe snapped his arm away, startled, "How long was I out?" She blinked a few times, her eyes focusing.

Nick didn't know the answer to her question, so he asked her one of his own, "Do you want us to give you a ride home or something?"

Macy rubbed her right shoulder painfully. How could she have ever fallen asleep on those chairs? When Nick's question sunk in, she glanced towards the closed door of Stella's room. "I can't leave Stella here."

"Macy, Stella is taken care of for now." Joe informed, as he tilted his head slightly at the door. "Trust me, we don't want to leave either."

"Besides, you look like you need to take care of yourself for a while." Kevin added, and Macy frowned slightly. She really was tired.

"When's the last time you ate?" Nick asked her, watching her fold her JONAS t-shirt up in her lap. She looked a little more pale than normal.

Macy thought about this for a second. "Uh…"

Before she could say anything else, Joe piped in, "Well if you can't remember then you must be hungry."

"I'm starving too." Kevin said miserably, as he rubbed his hand over his stomach.

Nick and Joe both turned to pointedly glance at him.

"Kevin. You just had two bags of chips, a candy bar, three sodas, and a coffee while you were waiting to see Stella." Nick stated, remembering all too well how annoying Kevin could be when he was crunching chips.

Kevin threw his hands in the air, "Exactly."

Joe and Nick said nothing in response. Instead they decided to just turn back to Macy and wear looks of confusion mixed with disbelief.

"Anyway." Nick began, "Since it looks like we're going to go eat now." He glanced at Kevin out of the corner of his eye, "Would you like to join us?"

Macy didn't know if she could eat. She didn't really have an appetite because she was so tired, but she knew she probably should eat something. Plus she hadn't seen the guys in months. She nodded tiredly, feeling partially guilty at leaving the hospital. She wished Stella was coming with them.

She stood from the chair, her legs feeling wobbly. Just how long HAD she been asleep? As she followed the boys down the hallway, she couldn't help but be happy at how great it was to have them back. She listened quietly to them mumbling to each other as she walked behind them.

They were arguing about where to eat. Seeing as it was one in the morning – they were limited. Kevin and Nick were quickly getting heated with each other over the subject of whether or not a Chinese restaurant would be open at this hour. A smile came to her face. Even at this hour, they could manage to make her smile. She wasn't sure how their visits with Stella had been. She hadn't had the chance to ask. But she knew one thing. She was certain, that they'd probably made her smile. That's what they did.

*

Nick flinched as a paper straw wrapper smacked him right in the cheek. He turned a glare on Kevin, whose eyes were wide and completely apologetic. Joe stifled a laugh. He had become about as slap-happy as you could get at this point. They'd been waiting for at least a half hour for their food now, and were growing bored to say the least. Were they tired? Absolutely. Could any of them sleep? Absolutely not.

Macy glanced at her phone. It was 2 minutes after 2am. IHOP had been their only option, which was okay, but, the service had proven to be moving at the rate of a snail so far. Of course, the fact that Ihop was actually busy at the moment? That was even more ridiculous. Didn't anybody sleep? They had all fallen into a sort of silence after ordering their food, and Joe was about to crack. He had to talk about something.

"So what do you think has this place so lit up at this hour of night?" Joe asked, sitting up straighter in the booth as he clasped his hands together.

Nick shrugged. Kevin looked like he had delved into deep thought over the question. Macy? Macy was good at guessing games like this. So she leaned forward and scanned the other occupied tables in their section.

"Well," she began, and the boys all focused their attention on her as she motioned towards the table diagonal. "I'd say they're on lunch break because they work the night shift at Wal-Mart. Them," she tilted her head to the booth behind them, "Breaking curfew," she then shifted to point across the aisle, "I'm thinking he had an argument with his wife and was thrown out for the night…"

Kevin and Joe both listened with fascinated interest, and Nick? Well he was pretty damn impressed himself, even if his thoughts were occupied on other things.

"She's definitely got insomnia. Do you see the dark circles under her eyes?" Macy continued on with Joe and Kevin.

Nick smiled a little bit. Macy was quite the girl, and the three of them absolutely adored her. But he couldn't focus on giving a moment to her right now. Not when Stella was in the hospital. He glanced at Joe. The thought patterns between the two of them differed greatly. Sure, Joe got sad about things. He could get depressed about things. He could think deeply about things. But he managed to bounce back after a short time, while Nick would be stuck in a downward spiral for days, sometimes weeks over something if it was serious enough. Was Joe thinking about Stella right now? In the back of his mind, did she still occupy some space in his head? Joe had had feelings for a while for Stella. Everyone knew about them. It was so obvious the way he looked at her.

Nick's feelings for her were complicated. Of course, above all else, he loved the girl. But…it wasn't as easy for him to entertain those feelings. He would go into guilt mode when his thoughts lingered beyond friendship simply because of Joe. Hell, he wasn't sure if he really felt that way for her, but…at the same time, he knew he did. He knew how Stella felt about Joe. Because it was obvious in the way she looked at him too. And sometimes he completely despised Joe for holding her heart like that. But how did Stella feel about Nick? Did she ever think about anything beyond friendship between them? It was enough to drive him insane, and he hated being sucked into that train of thoughts. Why he did it to himself? Well…because despite the misery and confusion of it all, there was a little inkling of joy and comfort in thinking that he could get the girl in the end instead of his brother.

There came the guilt again. Damn it.

"Nick." Joe snapped, waving a hand in front of his face.

Nick turned to glance at Joe but didn't respond.

"Are you okay dude?" Joe asked, one eyebrow on his face perking up as he waited for an answer.

Nick noticed that Macy and Kevin were both glancing at him in question as well, and he cleared his throat, "Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired. You know." he replied in short sentences and gazed out the window, propping his head up on his hand.

"You're blood sugar isn't low is it?" Kevin asked, leaning in closer over the table.

"I said I'm fine." Nick replied without looking at him.

He felt so selfish. Stella in the hospital and all he cared about was how she felt about him. They hadn't seen Macy all summer and he was completely ignoring her, although unintentionally. He glanced back towards the others again. They'd gotten quieter, and Joe was still giving him a strange look. He needed to get the attention off himself.

"Macy." Nick sighed and turned towards her. Seriously. When was the food going to arrive? "What did you do this summer?" He already knew somewhat of an answer to that question, "I mean, besides the camps."

Macy glanced towards him, happy to see signs of life from the quieter member of JONAS. "Honestly not a whole lot. I mean, the camps took up most of the time."

"Well what did you and Stella do when you hung out?"

Macy fell silent, and her eyes locked with Nick's. She could feel Joe and Kevin's gazes upon her as well. What should she say? That she didn't really hang out with Stella much because she'd acquired a new boyfriend? One who was in college and abused her? The one who was responsible for her being in the hospital right now?

Nick had her now. He'd wondered if Macy knew more to the story than they did. He hadn't had a chance to talk to her much, but he remembered talking with her at the hospital earlier. How she'd dodged answering his questions with detail. How she frequently would glance at the floor. Of course…he could be wrong about the entire thing.

Still…if he sat here and interrogated her in front of Kevin and Joe, they'd probably wonder why he was being such a jerk to her. And he didn't want to be a jerk to her. He just really wanted to know if she knew something they didn't.

"Oooh look! Is that our food??" Kevin excitedly pointed at a waiter coming out from the kitchen doors.

The four of them all looked up, eyes expectant as the waiter walked towards them…and then right past them.

Joe watched the waiter from over his shoulder, before whipping around, his thumb pointed behind him, "Okay, I know for a fact that we got here before those people did." He shook his head, and Kevin slumped down in his seat, disappointedly.

Nick's cell rang. It was their dad. He slumped over onto the window sill again and cleared his throat before taking the call.

Macy's eyes darted towards Nick. She knew he didn't buy her shallow answers, but she did not want to take the heat for this. This was Stella's thing. She needed to be open and honest with them. Whether she would be or not? She didn't know yet. Time would tell, but Macy knew she was pretty much caught between a rock and a hard place until Stella decided to say anything to them.

"So…what exactly is a creep?" came Kevin's voice from beside her.

Macy glanced over to see Kevin was hidden behind a menu, obviously trying to keep himself entertained since they were having to wait forever for the food.

"You know." Joe began, he had slumped his head into his arms, which were folded on top of the table. "Scary old shady guys." he mumbled, before adding, "Well I guess they don't always have to necessarily be 'old' guys but-"

"Not that kind of creep Joe. Look." Kevin turned the menu around as Joe lifted his head to see what he was talking about.

After studying the menu for a moment, he raised an eyebrow, "Huh. New definition for creep." he glanced towards Macy, "A menu item."

"It's not pronounced 'creep' you morons, it's pronounced 'crepe'." Nick informed, as he shut his cell phone. He earned a glare from Joe, and a mumbled 'well you don't have to call names' from Kevin, and he turned to face Macy again. He really wanted to keep interrogating her…but he'd have to hold back. Better save that for when he could get her alone. "So tell us about this Dip and Dots guy."

Kevin sat up straighter in the booth, smirk on his face. "Oh yes, do tell." He folded the menu back up and turned towards her. Macy shot an accusing look at Joe, who at the moment was desperately trying to avoid eye contact with her. She could feel both Kevin and Nick's eyes burning into her as she tried not to blush. Seriously last time she'd tell Joe a secret.

She did her best to answer the questions they had about 'Chad' the Dip and Dots guy, and thankfully their food finally showed up within five minutes or she'd probably have melted under all the pressure of their over-protective questions.

They pulled up at her place 15 minutes to 4, and Kevin walked her to the door.

"So I guess we'll see you tomorrow." Kevin told her, as she pulled out her house key.

"Yes you will." Macy replied, smile on her face. She was so glad they were back.

"Get some rest tonight. It's been a long day." Kevin told, as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, and pulled her into a returned the hug happily, giving the brother the best squeeze she could. "You guys too." she held on, while she added, "You have no idea how great it is to have you all back."

Kevin smiled into her shoulder, before they broke the hug. "Goodnight Macy."

"Night." Macy replied, as her eyes followed him back towards Nick's car. She watched him climb into the car behind Joe, pressing him forward into the dashboard, which in turn, caused Joe to yell 'Kevin!' as his face connected with the vinyl. She laughed out loud, as she watched Joe rub his nose, Nick shaking his head, and she heard Kevin apologize before Joe shut the passenger door and the car sped away.

The smile stayed on her face as she turned around and let herself in.

*

"I told you I was sorry Joe, you should have gotten out of the car so I'd have had more room to climb through." Kevin was saying, as Joe glanced at his nose in the mirror.

Joe glared at his own reflection and huffed, before flipping the visor back up. This was definitely going to leave a mark. "Whatever, I just can't wait to sleep in my bed again."

"Oh I know, I think I'll sleep in the middle tonight." Kevin stated, then after a moment, "No the top."

"You always fall off of the top." Joe reminded him.

Kevin's face lit up in remembrance, "You're right Joe. I'll sleep on the bottom."

Joe nodded before turning to glance at Nick. He'd been acting strange ever since Ihop. Granted, they were all tired, and seeing Stella had caused them all some discomfort for sure. But there was something else. "Nick, what's wrong with you? You've barely said a word since we left the restaurant."

"It's nothing." Nick answered quickly. What was he supposed to say? That he thought Macy was hiding things from them? They'd defend her in a heartbeat. Nick wasn't trying to accuse her of being shady - but facts were facts. Why had she answered all of his questions with short replies all day? At least the ones that had to do with Stella? He'd always been open and honest with his brothers. Maybe he should give it a try. He glanced over at Joe, who was giving him the sarcastic 'yeah right' look. Over his shoulder, Kevin was eyeing him with an identical expression. He blinked before putting his eyes back on the road. "It's just…don't you guys think Macy was acting a little strange earlier?"

He could feel both his brothers' eyebrows raising at him, so he continued, "When I asked her about Stella?"

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked, interested to know where Nick was going with this.

"I mean how quiet she was after I asked if she and Stella hung out much." Nick explained, as his thoughts drifted away, "She didn't even answer the question." he paused.

Joe faced the dash board, and Kevin slumped back into the backseats of the car. Silence burned at them as they all recalled the short conversation.

Joe opened his mouth to say something, before closing it again. What exactly was Nick getting at here? "So…" he finally spoke up, turning slightly in the passenger seat to face him. "You think maybe they didn't?"

"I don't know." Nick replied, as he slowed down to stop at a red light. "I just think that if they did, Macy would have had a lot to say about it."

"Why would they not have hung out though?" Kevin added from the back, "I know Macy was away for some of the summer, but when she wasn't?"

Nick sighed as his eyes stared at the red light, willing it green so he could just get himself and his brothers home. "It's killing me not knowing what happened to Stella." he stated, as he leaned back a little in his seat, "And I just have a feeling that Macy knows what happened."

"Dude." Joe said from beside him, "Macy would have told us."

Nick glanced over at him, "Stella didn't tell us either."

"She probably didn't feel like talking about it." Joe replied, "I mean…you did see her right? Her condition? It had to have been one heck of an accident for her to be that banged up."

"Exactly, Joe, and what accident is so horrible, that not only Stella, but Macy wouldn't even talk about it?" Nick fired back, "We're all supposed to be friends right? Why couldn't anyone at all let us know what happened?!"

Joe moved slightly more towards the window, while Kevin hid a little bit behind Joe's seat. Nick had started snapping at them pretty quickly over this. Nick's foot pressed a little harder on the gas pedal.

"Look, Nick…" Joe began as he braced himself in his seat a little, his eyes darting from Nick to the road as the car continued speeding up, "You're obviously upset and that's fine, but I'd prefer to not die in a fiery car crash tonight."

Nick realized he had been speeding up a little too much. He'd done it again. Gotten extremely irritated with his brothers when this wasn't their fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. He just felt in his heart that something was going on that he should know about, and no one had told them anything today. They kept using the word 'accident' like it was poison. Accidents happened everyday, and there was just nothing you could do about them. But a real accident wasn't something someone would act so ashamed to talk about. His foot eased up off the pedal and he monitored the speedometer until he was out of 'attempted vehicular manslaughter' range. He supposed he should be a bit more like Joe and Kevin. Just simply happy to be back home and with Stella again. Happy that she was going to be okay. And he was, but he just couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being deceived somehow. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry guys."

Joe relaxed a little bit in his seat. "It's okay Nick…I understand you being upset that Stella's in the hospital. I mean, we all are. But I think we all just need to get some sleep and tackle this thing again tomorrow."

He figured Joe might be right, but at the same time…wasn't it killing him too? Not knowing? If he was going to get any sleep tonight at all, he was going to have to find something to keep his mind off of what was going on.

"So what time does Stella get out tomorrow anyway?" Kevin's voice came from the back seat again.

Joe glanced over his shoulder, his hand still gripping the 'oh shit' handle even though Nick had slowed down. "Not sure."

Nick looked at Joe from the corner of his eye and sighed. Of course he knew this had to be bothering him just as much. He just wondered how many of them were going to lose sleep over it.

*

Nick was tossing and turning. It was 6:12 am. So he'd managed to sleep about an hour and a half before he woke up from restless sleep. He'd tried turning on a fan so that the sounds it made would distract him enough to put his thoughts at rest. That didn't work. Tried kicking off all his covers so that he'd forget about the fact that they were annoying him. That didn't work either. After 20 minutes of just lying there staring at the ceiling, and getting fed up with the sounds of Kevin's snoring coming from the bottom bunk, he got up out of bed. Grabbing some spare change from beside his keyboard, he walked over to the juice vending machine. After the bottle dispensed he collected it, and sat down at the small round table beside them and rubbed his tired eyes.

What would they be doing right now if they hadn't cancelled the rest of their tour? They'd probably be checking out the stage at the gig they'd be playing that night. Then they'd go for breakfast. Then they'd go back and do an early sound check. Goof off a little bit. Have lunch. Go back for the show run through. Meet and greet. Then they'd put on the actual show. Go back to the hotel or tour bus exhausted. Then repeat the process.

He hoped all the fans wouldn't be too extremely upset about the cancellations. . .though he knew some were going to be unhappy about it anyway. Still, they had the best fans in the world.

"Stella…"

Nick's head whipped around in the direction of Joe's bed just in time to see him tossing in his blanket.

"Stella…I love you…" Joe's voice slurred in sleepiness, and he exhaled loudly before falling silent again.

Nick waited to see if Joe was going to say anything else, but he didn't. Dream must have ended. He wondered what it could have possibly been about. Of course, Stella. But what were they doing? He'd only had one dream of Stella. But it had been broken up in pieces. Made no sense. He'd tried having it again, using Kevin's advice from when he'd tried writing a new song. He'd repeated everything he'd done the day before, in hopes he'd have the same dream again, but nothing.

It was nearly 7 now. He glanced at his juice bottle, not much left. He drank the rest down quickly, took a bathroom break, and decided to lie back down again. Even if he couldn't sleep, resting a couple more hours would be better than not.


End file.
